Rise and Fall of a Raven
by Potions.Gal
Summary: The night of the Final Battle was a treacherous one, especially for the Potions Master, Severus Snape. But in his last moments, he doesn't really know who is crying for him. Crappy summary. HG reflecting on SS Drabble


She sat there staring.

Staring at those eyes.

Those deep black eyes.

She had to sit there and watch it all. Voldemort torturing Snape, teasing Snape, fully aware of what he was going to do to him. And it killed her. She wanted to scream out, warn him, get in the way, stop Voldemort, but she was frozen there, watching as she watched the greatest potions master fall, as Nagini took away his life.

Nobody knew what she felt for him. Nobody but herself.

She didn't know why she felt for him, longed for him, but all she knew was this.

She wanted him.

Severus was sharp, cold, cruel on the outside. He shot out bitter remarks and snide comments. He glared at anyone who wasn't his favorite Slytherin. But she knew he was truly a different.

It had taken her, the bushy haired know it all, some time to realize it. At first she viewed him as the dark bat who stalked the dungeons, waiting to hand out those beloved detentions or make a record high of subtracted points from Gryffindor. But she thought about it one night. The night it all made sense.

She thought about how in her first year, how much he had been through to protect Harry. How he could have easily said a few harsh words to Quirrell and stopped there, but persisted, even to an extent of being wounded through his effort. She thought abut how in her third year his valiant effort to protect all of them. Of course at the time they had found him in the way and made him unconscious. But he was just trying to protect them. He dove in the way of them when the werewolf threatened to hurt them, sacrificing himself. In her fifth year she had discovered the reasoning behind it all.

He was on the good side, sacrificing it all to save all of them. He was spying on Voldemort and his followers, but pretending to be spying on Hogwarts and Harry. She thought about how much he had to go through. To know that any night, someone could tell the Dark Lord of his position, and be killed for it. To know that every time he was called, he would suffer pain and agony through the Cruciatus. To know that he would always be looked at as the traitor, and to never be understood.

She was amazed by this man. He had an heir of mystery about him. She knew he wasn't really that cold. It was an act to keep students on their toes, to keep them attentive. To keep them from being coddled. After all, in real life if you made a major mistake, there wouldn't be someone there to go, "Aww, it's alright" and make it better. He showed them the way life was going to be. Hermione knew on the inside there was a man who had been scarred from his past, masking his true emotions in fear of having more scars made. She recalled having used that strategy before with several boys after Krum. He was truly a caring man, though he was afraid to show it. A kind caring humorous man who risked it all for them and the greater good.

And this was his reward.

Hermione sat there, silently, the warm tears rolling down the tip of her nose as she was forced to watch him in the last moments of his life. She watched as he lay there gasping for air, staring into the eyes of the boy he loathed. As great as Harry was, he had almost no potential to comfort someone. Harry kneeled next to him, staring. Hermione wanted to shove him out of the way, take Severus's hand and hold it, comfort him, tell him it would be ok. To put down a couple of spells that would fix the wounds. For him to close his eyes, and a few minutes later to stand back up laughing at the joke she had just played on them.

But she knew that would never happen as his hand released its grip on Harry and thudded to the floor. Reality sunk in.

He was gone.

But he would stay live in her memories forever.

AN: Ok, yeah, a bit sad, but my shot at Hermione's point of veiw. Severus was loved by someone at least. lol Review if you please:D


End file.
